Pretty Birds
by Brightblaze
Summary: Jack returns to the island where he left Angelica to pick her up; three days after he left her. However, something is not quite right...


**AN: Hello readers! Here's a quick JackXAngelica oneshot! Enjoy and please leave a review! :) And I don't own anything to do with POTC **

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Jack faced Angelica, who was staring at him in shock. She looked surprisingly healthy for being on an island for three days.

Something wasn't quite right with that.

Everything Jack had wanted to say to the woman he left had escaped. He could just stare with his mouth dropped down and his eyes widened.

Her clothes weren't in any worse state than when he last saw her. Neither was her expression- Angelica did _not _look happy to see him. The most startling element, however, was her overall look. Her hair did not look any more tangled than three days ago. Her eyes were still bright and not glazed with starvation. Jack had seen many people in the different stages of death by isolation, but Angelica had none of those symptoms. She did not have the gaunt, hollow look, she still stood tall and strong. It was as if only three minutes had passed rather than three days.

"What are you doing here?" She growled in a thick accent.

"Rescuing you, darling."

"Why?" Angelica demanded. She placed her hands on his hips and cocked her head. "You seemed perfectly content to leave me here, to-"

"Not to die..." He corrected her and stepped closer, hoping she wouldn't notice. She did, though, and stepped away from him. "I just..."

"Where's your boat? How did you get here?" Angelica interrupted. "What game are you playing this time, Sparrow? Because I don't want to be a part of it! Get _away from me!" _

Jack dodged her slap neatly and grabbed her arm. "Don't you want to get off this island?"

"It's too late, mi amor," Angelica's voice all of a sudden dropped to a murmur. "But since you're here, come. I want to show you something." She wriggled free and jogged off the pale sand into the dense but small vegetation.

_Why is it too late? _"Angelica?" Yet she was too deep into the tiny jungle to hear him. Jack got excited about what she had to show him and took off after her.

Jack had no idea which direction Angelica had gone. He staggered in his usual manner around the ferns and trees, calling, "Angelica? Angelica?!"

"JACK!" Her voice screeched in his ear as Angelica pounced on him from behind and knocked him into the sand and roots. Jack spat out a bunch of leaves and rolled over, face-to-face with her, who had flopped down beside him.

She kissed him quickly on the lips. "You have to move faster if you want to the surprise," she grinned.

He grabbed her waist and pulled her close into him. "I'm fine just laying here with you, love."

Angelica sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay. But first, I show you this. Get up!" She wriggled from his grip and stood up, before bounding away again.

Jack groaned and stood up as well, but she had disappeared again. He sighed and tumbled through the scrub, this time not calling out. He wanted to find her this time, not the other way around.

Finally he pulled apart two big ferns and saw her, standing on the edge of a deep blue pool. Her back was facing him, as if she was expecting him to come from another direction.

Jack considered what he should do now. His thoughts would either make Angelica laugh, or completely rabid...

He decided to go for it. After all, she _seemed _to be in a good mood.

He ever-so-delicately crept up behind his love, silencing a laugh as he grabbed her butt. Angelica squealed and tried to turn around, but he playfully shoved her in the water first.

"JACK!" She spluttered when she came up for air. Jack was laughing his head off. This reminded him of the old days when they were young and travelling around Spain together.

Angelica paddled over to the edge and glared at him, but it didn't work because she was smiling so hard. Jack held in his chuckles as he held out his hand for her to grab.

She did exactly what he expected her to do. That is, yanking on his arm so _he _fell into the water too! When he surfaced, coughing and squinting water out of his eyes, he felt those _stirrings _acting up again.

Here was a girl, young and innocent, who left her life behind just for him. Here was a girl with a fiery temper with an even better smile. Here was the only girl he could ever, ever admit to falling in love with. Now, many years later, Angelica Teach had changed, but she truly was the same girl.

Angelica was laughing like she hadn't done in years. He swam over to her, his boots gliding over the smoothed stone of the bottom of this little pool, and held her in his arms.

"I love you," she murmured into his neck.

Jack did not answer; instead he rested his chin on her head and gazed around him. The trees were a vivid and surreal shade of green. The sky was an enigmatic ocean colour, while the freshwater around him was the bright blue that you only see in paintings. When he looked down, he could see Angelica snuggled into him, with her hair sticking in dark strands and her white shirt gone see-through from the water-

"Jack! Stop staring!" She laughed and splashed him before swimming away to the edge again. Jack admired her form as she pulled herself out and looked back at him.

He wanted her, oh how he wanted her. Not just in that way, but in a real way. He wanted to just be with her, forever. On this beautiful island with Angelica Teach, who was not wasting away or dying or even pissed off at him.

It should have struck him as odd. The powers of the Fountain of Youth did not protect one from starving to death. However, he didn't think of it and swam up to the edge and got out as well. "What should we do now, love? Is there any food here? Rum, maybe?"

"You wanted to lie down, yes? Lie with me," She patted the spot beside her, which was clear of cumbersome roots and itchy weeds.

Jack crawled over with dripping clothes and hair and lay down beside her. She smelled nice. He put his hand on her waist, and thankfully she did not remove it.

"So," he started. "How... what magic are you using, love? You're perfectly normal for someone who's spent three days on this island. In fact, you look better than ever."

Angelica sighed and looked up at the sky, almost directly at the sun. She didn't answer for a few long moments. When she finally spoke, she answered with another question. "Do you believe in the afterlife, Jack?"

_What. _What did that have to do with anything? He looked over at her, and she was still staring at the sky.

"I don't think the afterlife could get any better than this," Jack chuckled. He pulled her closer with the hand on her waist. "Unless, there was rum of course!" He found that funny.

Angelica scowled at him and turned away. _What did I do now? _Jack thought worriedly.

She spoke suddenly, startling him. "So, when I die, you believe you will never see me again?"

Whoa. Jack hadn't thought of it in that way. Well, he had lasted a good many years _before _without seeing a glimpse of her pretty face. He had to admit, however, that this time was different. Those _stirrings _had come back, and they were so strong that Jack couldn't comprehend the emotions he felt while lying with this woman.

Jack had come all the way across the sea to come back for her. Of course he would not be okay if he could never see her again. Not that he was going to admit that to her, of course.

"I could see you with unholy amounts of rum in me," he pointed out.

Angelica groaned and rolled her eyes. Jack did feel a little bad for bursting her bubble, but he didn't say anything.

The silence was comfortable with the cool air and warm sun drying them off. Angelica finally rolled back to face him and snuggled into his chest. Jack's right arm was pillowing her head, but his left arm trailed up and down her side. Angelica's hands were on his hip.

"You know," she murmured into his neck. "My mother used to tell me of a story when I was very little. She says of a legend that when someone dies, their soul becomes a bird. Birds are actually angels in disguise. You can hear them singing because they are trying to communicate to the ones they left behind."

"A member of the _Pearl_'s crew, a man named Cotton, he had a parrot," Jack replied. Angelica blinked up at him. "It was the most annoying thing ever. You love, don't know much about birds."

"Do you not believe in angels?" She didn't sound as annoyed as she should've been. It was more of a curious ask, a genuine wanting-to-know about Jack. Perhaps it was because she was so relaxed, lying in the sand beside him.

"I've seen many kinds of ghosts, love. I know that people aren't gone forever once they die. I guess I do believe in an afterlife, but not the kind you're thinking of. In fact, I think I'd like to be a ghost, but one that isn't eternally cursed for whatever reasons."

Angelica whispered. "What about angels? They could almost be ghosts. Yet angels are so pure and beautiful."

Jack recalled a time when Angelica had told him that her mother named her after angels. Angelica's family was very big on angels and afterlife and whatnot. He used the same witty line from back then. "So, does that make you an angel? You do look the part!"

She giggled just like she did all those years ago. However, when she spoke, her voice had gone dangerously quiet. "That was once true. But you corrupted me." Angelica sat up and glared down at Jack. "Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be the most beautiful bird in the world when I died. Now that cannot ever happen. Because of the darkness, I am doomed to be an ugly bird."

"That's not true!" Jack wanted Angelica to lie beside him again. "You're too lovely to be an ugly bird!" The moment he said that, he felt his heart crack. Jack hadn't been this overcame with emotion since Will was almost killed. The thought that Angelica was distressed about becoming an ugly bird in the afterlife made him want to laugh, but he also wanted to hold her, and tell her that she was beautiful. He wanted to give her comfort, he wanted to kiss her.

"I..." Angelica was on the verge of tears. "My soul though... do you even care, Jack? Your soul must be in worse condition than mine."

Feeling bad, Jack ruffled her hair and told her, "I'm sure you'll be quite the pretty bird."

"I'll be a freaking raven. A raven with mange," she laughed sadly.

"Well, darling, I promise you, I give you my word of honour as a pirate, that in another life, we can both be mangy ravens."

This made Angelica genuinely laugh. She flopped back down beside him, and the two pirates lay there in each other's arms for a few beautiful minutes.

"Look!" Her slender hand motioned at two large black birds in the trees. They looked scruffy, yet there was a certain dark beauty of the two scavenging birds. "It's us!" She giggled.

Jack chuckled as well. He liked how close the two birds were standing, not that he'd tell Angelica that. "Who's which bird?"

"Hmm..." Angelica squinted up at them.

"The one with the puffy chest is you," he teased.

"Shut up, Jack!" Yet she was smiling and blushing. She hardly ever blushed anymore. In fact, Jack was surprised at how calm she was.

It was even more surprising when Angelica was all of a sudden on top of him, kissing him passionately. Jack moaned in excitement but he was cut short as she rolled off him, exclaiming, "Look!"

A small white feather had drifted down from the trees. It landed on Jack's forehead. He squinted at it as Angelica gingerly picked up and examined it.

"Do you know where it came from?" he asked her. The only birds above them were the ravens. The feather had more of a chance of coming from the clouds than pure black birds.

"An angel," whispered Angelica immediately.

"There's only one angel here, and that's you, my love," Jack evaluated her reaction.

Angelica sat up and smiled at him. The breeze was starting to pick up, waving her hair smoothly. He could see a tear in the corner of her eye.

"Jack," she whispered. "You have to let me go."

The air got colder as Jack felt his stomach twist. "I can't," he told her. "Don't make me."

"You must, mi amor. This has been going on for far too long. It is not good."

Jack didn't say anything. He felt his eyes threatening to spill tears, but he wouldn't. His chest tightened.

Angelica caressed his cheek. Tears spilled down hers.

"Is it too late for one last time?" He touched her thigh longingly. Angelica grabbed both of his hands and gently pulled him up.

"Yes," she rasped. "But it's not too late for other things."

"What other things?"

Angelica opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She shook her head and let more tears fall.

"Angelica..." He dropped one of her hands and touched her soft face.

She closed her eyes and let him touch her. He traced her jaw-line and her cheekbones, tangling his slender fingers in her dark hair.

Jack felt afraid, and cold. The warm sun and beautiful skies were fading.

"I love you, Jack. Now, open your eyes."

* * *

"Another hallucination?" Grumbled the prison guard to his companion.

"Yup, he's certainly lost it, Sam," the other man replied. "Won't stop wailing and whimpering."

"How long has this been going for?" Sam asked.

"'Bout a month now," sighed the guard, whose name was Gordon. "Keeps muttering about some whore."

"Her name's 'Gelica, eh?" Sam looked through the bars at the pirate they had arrested four weeks ago. "Says she was like an angel. Corrupted, but beautiful."

"Some love story," Gordon said rather enviously. "I'm assuming she's dead."

"She is," croaked Jack. "I left her, and I can feel her death. 'Twas slow and agonizing and it was _my fault!" _He was a wreck. He seemed to never stop crying, even if he was just silently weeping. Stuck in a dirty cell with barely any food and water. Trapped with his thoughts. The last deed her ever did was abandon the one woman he truly loved.

A part of him had fiercely clung to the hope that she was alive. She was a resourceful and cunning girl. She'd figure out a way...

However, then the dreams had begun three days later. The same dream, over and over again. In the dream, Angelica was happy, young, and healthy. She loved him as much as he loved her. Jack was no fool. He could feel the emptiness inside of him and he knew that she had died alone there.

Sam sighed. "Mate, ev'ry prisoner's got some wench they've left behind. You ain't gonna last that long much more. Ye'll be able to join 'er soon enough."

The pirate wasn't listening. He turned to a large black bird, sitting at the barred window. It was just an ugly raven, waiting for him to die so it could feed.

"Is it too late to say I'm sorry?! Too late to say I love you?!"

Of course, the bird didn't say anything.

Gordon and Sam walked off, bored. Jack sat on the straw-covered stone and gazed up at the raven.

To him, it was quite the pretty bird.

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**Thank you for reading my oneshot! I would greatly appreciate a review! Note: some elements were inspired by one of my favorite films, Vanilla Sky (which I also do not own). Also, the story about birds was one my friend's Mom told me a long time ago!**


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